Brew 10,000: One Brewer, Eighteen Years, Ten-Thousand Batches of Beer. Brew 10,000 is not so much a style of beer, rather it is a new recipe using some of the best ingredients John Maier has ever brewed with... Vienna, French Special Aroma, and Maris Otter Pale Malts; Yakima Summit and German Saphir Hops, Free-range Coastal Waters, and PacMan Yeast. 83 IBU

Reviews by scorched:

I bought this beer at the Anderson's, being extremely surprised by its appearance there. Also, I was flabbergasted by the price. However, I am a collector, and I was intrigued (also convinced by a recent article I read in a FANTASTIC publication...).

I put it in my fridge and let it mellow for a few days. Upon cracking open the seal, the fizzing noise was unmistakably apparent. Lots of carbonation.

Poured into a Michael Jackson Summer Glass, the amber-colored liquid was amazing in hue and a thick, white head rose up to the top. This head quickly dissipated. However, a nice lacing of white remained for the entire duration of the beverage.

The aroma was very fantastic and complex. Hints of citrus and something else smooth...

The taste was a little disappointing, given the aroma (and the price). Hints of grapefruit and more citrus.

Smooth mouthfeel. Very drinkable.

Not sure its worth the price, but I still consider it a good investment. Always good to broaden your horizons. (1,003 characters)

More User Reviews:

4/5 rDev -1%look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

Pretty copper body with a thick khaki head that settles somewhat but never quite goes away. Spicy pine aroma with some pale malt and citrus. Flavor bases itself on a steady supply of pale malt, mild toast, and generic graininess followed by strawberries, orange, and finally a tremendous amount of pine hopped bitterness. Mildly boozey but certainly not as much as one would expect with the ABV. Crisp, sticky, and bubbly. Easy to drink. (437 characters)

On tap at the Firkin, Libertyville, IL. Arrives in a snifter with a bright opaque orange hue and a half inch of white head that has a nice creaminess. Aromas of sweet caramelized fruit maltiness with a puff of alcohol. A big blast of herbal, spicy hops jumps out at me as well. Sorta earthy.

First sip brings fruity caramel malts with a bit of sweetness that quickly meets a rush of bitterness that follows with some alcohol. Slightly vegetal and green. It flows down with herbal, spicy hops throughout and finishes with a lingering bitterness. A tad hot at 10%..this was an interesting brew to sample.

Mouthfeel was smooth and medium bodied with good carbonation. Not overly heavy at all. Overall it was a pretty good brew but it didn't wow me like I thought it might. It is however an interesting twist on a DIPA and it's a big brew at that. Glad I got to try it on tap because I wouldn't drop $20 on a bottle. (919 characters)

On tap at the BTAH in NYC, nice bold looking ruby medium almond amber, leaves respectable tiny bubble lacing. Citric and spicy nose. Citric hops pounding and crunching, bold and complex brew. 10% alcohol, full load of early malts clearing way for the west coast style hop jolt. Great stuff, happy to enjoy it on tap and avoid the questionable price tag on the ceramic bottles (375 characters)

For starters, I am biased towards Rogue as I am a hophead. This beer does not disappoint. Clear golden pour with some oil and a puffy white head. Hops jump out of the glass with grass, wood, and citrus notes. Caramel malt sweetness with the Pacman yeast up front, which soon turn to the astringent hoppiness. Pine and citrus flow throughout. Nice balance to the long finish. (374 characters)

.75ml ceramic bottle with a rubber stopper, dated December 2006. Is the dude painted on the front poppin out of the bushes a peeping tom or sex offender of some kind? It pours a semi-clear amber honey color with a two-finger off white head, showing decent retention, not leaving much in the way of lacing.

The floral aroma offers plenty of honey and pine, accented by lemony citrus notes. The flavor is dominated by a barrage of hops, ranging from piney, to citrusy, to dank and soapy. I am a hope fiend, but I don't know if I like the way these work with one another.

The mouth is medium, lacking a bit in carbonation I think. The bright hops lead off, then a soapy, syrupy characteristic dominates the finish. There's not really that much complexity and it's a bit out of balance. Also, the finish is slightly off-putting, decresing the drinkability a bit.

I would definitely drink this, but considering the price and hullabaloo, it's a bit underwhelming. (967 characters)

Pours a clear coppery amber with a large tan head that leaves great lacing. The smell is pungent with citrus hops and a sweet malt backbone to it. The taste is a creamy carmel malt sweetness then a bitter hop rush. The hops are bitter, than turn to the citrus flavors one would expect along with some "woodiness". A very good tasting beer that hides the strong alcohol well. The m/f is medium with all the flavors blending well. Congrats on 10000 brews Rogue! and many more. (474 characters)

This beer pours a hazy orange red with good fluffy head out of a gray ceramic glass flip top. The nose has some unique hop smell with spice to it with a cream funk. The nose and taste has a smell I recognize from another beer outside of rogue but i cant put my finger on what it is. Taste of good hops, with a bitey finish. not to bitter, but smooth and lacks a little in aftertaste. A bit of spice and alcohol on the finish. Mouthfeel is good and thick, but not stout soup. perfect for an IPA. The drinkability is good for an IPA but i think two bottles would be hard to stomach. Good brew, but i think rogue could have done a little better for such a commemeration. try it and you wont be dissapointed if your looking for an IPA. (796 characters)

Pours a rich, hazy amber color with a creamy head that quickly reduces to a foamy film of clingy bubbles.

The nose is full of hops, sweet and sticky, with more than a touch of alcohol. The first taste is delicious - clean, crisp, and bitter, with rich, piney hops through and through. It leaves the mouth clean and dry, without any heavy aftertaste.

This intoxicating brew is clean and potent -- easy sipping for a hop head like me, but rich and round in the mouth as well. A supreme effort from Rogue for their 10,000th brew. (597 characters)

This is a top Ten Beer in my book so far. I am not to convinced of the style they claim. But who cares it is something special and one of the highest marks I have given a beer so far. For all the techincial aspects read other reveiws I must have another taste. And Rouge why would you not brew this again and again and again. I'll buy the whole next batch myself. Later (546 characters)

I picked this up for a hefty price at the Willamette Market of Choice, Eugene, OR. It's presented simply as an "ale" on the bottle and I actually had to go to the website to determine exactly which kind of ale. It comes in one of the fancy Rogue ceramic re-sealable bottles only, which adds to the cost. There's a big burly guy on the label sneakily coming out of a bunch of bushes to raise his glass with you - I assume he must be the 1 brewer that they've had at Rogue responsible for their 10,000 brews in 18 years. It pours out with a tremendous tan-white foamy and creamy head and lots of lacing. The color is a deep reddish-brown and it's very effervescent. The smell is great - mainly sweet and fruity hops. Mouthfeel is a bit bubbly and stinging and the taste is not nearly as complex as the smell. Bitter hops taste up front and then keeps getting even more bitter throughout. No taste of alcohol though, which is awesome for a 10% ABV IPA - just lots of hops. It's a bit hard on the palate with not much complexity in the hops taste, which is a bit disappointing, given that it's smell is so great and complex. (1,120 characters)

Drinks very easy for the abv, great treat for my backyard camp out with my boys (60 degrees out now) . Don't understand the pricing, although I enjoyed this, can't see me paying near this much ($20 for 750-800 ml) of this again. Better DIPAs out the for half-1/3rd the price (773 characters)

T: Huge floral bitterness in beginning, malty body, with some citrus hop bittering and some grassiness. Big caramel mouthful, some dry pine and alcohol upon warming but otherwise is very drinkable considering abv (10.0). Big malty lacing for an aftertaste with dry pine. Good balance from start to finish transition wise of flavor. Sure half your money is going towards the price of the fancy swing top ceramic bottle but don't hold this against the beer itself, blame marketing.

M: full bodied, creamy

D: Overall good and very drinkable especially for its abv (667 characters)

Served in a snifter, the beer pours a hazy amber/orange/brown color with about an inch off-white head. The aroma is very nice, it smells like pine and citrusy hops, pepper (spice), strawberries, bready malt and just an overall hoppy and fruity smell. It smells very nice, and the aroma isn't overpowering. However, the taste is mostly citrusy hops and some malt. Finishes bitter, and the aftertaste is a bit harsh. Not bad, but it was a letdown after smelling the beer first. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's a bit slick and has a good amount of carbonation. Drinkability is OK, it's not hard to drink and the alcohol isn't very noticable. Overall I think it's a decent beer, but definitely not worth the money (I think I paid around $19 for this). (746 characters)

Bottle courtesy of Sammy: Poured a deep orangey color ale with a medium size foamy head with some retention and some lacing. Aroma of floral and bitter hops is interesting. Taste is a ix between some caramel and light toffee malt with some dominating notes of floral hops and a medium-strong bitter finish. Full body with some great carbonation and no alcohol was apparent. Overall, a nicely done west coast hoppy ale. (418 characters)

This beer gets a huge three finger head of off white popping bubbles. Body is a glowing honey amber with a slight hue. Nose has a sweet hop infused tone with mandrine orange, sappy leaf, and slight wheat notes. Very dry hop backed tongue lashing the outer edges of the mouth on first sip. It does mellow out a bit and does develop a long almost creamy effect to the hop created mouthfeel. This is a brutely bitter mineral based brew. There is a hint of fishy feel to it also. Mouthfeel is a lasting bitter. Drinkability is affected by the overly off-raw bitterness. (565 characters)

Poured out rough into a tulip with two fingers of off-white suds.
A clear orange yellow amber tint and lacing is occuring.
Smell is strong hops and grapefruit. No alcohol in the nose here.
Light malt and sugars in the background.
Do not drink this cold. You will miss all the flavors.
Orange peel and asparagus. Earthly flavors like root vegetables.
Mabey turnip? Definatly grapefruit.
Mouthfeel is very oily and the alcohol waits to be discovered.
The High ABV here is merely a ploy to get you to buy this, then you discover it's 22 bucks .
I like the flavor but don't know if I could handle the abv. (610 characters)

Wow, I cannot begin to descibe the excitement I had to try this one. From the day I read about it coming out I knew this would be one for me. Then I saw the picks for the bottle, and holy schnikes, one of the best bottle creations I have ever seen. Then I heard about the price, set me back a little, but you know what I was still determined to get my hands on one. So as soon as it came out I began scouring my stores up in North Carolina, as we had still not popped the cap at that time, but I just could not find any. It seemed as soon as they came in they were gone. SO I call up my buddies at Bruisin Ales and managed to secure one of the last left/ A big Thank You has to go out to Julie and Jason for helping me secure this one. This is one big bad ceramic piece here, and the artwork was just fantastic. I had it sitting in my fridge just waiting for the right moment or special occasion to open. That just never came, so I just went for it last night, figured what the hell and popped the cap on it....and away we go...

Poured a very hazy orange amber, great tone on this . Lots of visible carbonation coming up from the bottom of the glass gave it a lively, albeit hazy appearence. A nice one inch white frothy head formed immediatly and took its sweet old time in coming down. What was left was a gooey stick mess of film stretching accross the top of the glass, yummy. Lace streaked down the sides of the glass, and by the end of the session had almost completly obscured the insides of the glass with its rings of lacey white. Now this just looked great. It was very full looking and just seemed like it meant business. Looked like I would want a strong hoppy beer to look, just the best orange amber haziness that makes one so damn great. Would have given a 5 here for a little bit bigger of a head, but needs to get that honerable mention.

Now for the smell, and what a beauty it was. Very strong pungent bitter smell, this one nearly knocked me over! Very strong citus notes, lemon, orange, tangerine and grapefruit were the most obvious at first. A little bit later the sugary notes started to percolate through and gave it a sweet but yet completly knock you down bitterness. The hoppiness was extremely fresh, I mean it wouldnt have suprised me if they were still attached to the damn vine. Overall a very pleasing aroma, very fresh and just over the top in hops. I didn't really detect any of the copious malt amounts that were supposed to have been in it. I am sure they were there just not evident in the nose.

So, the time has come for the first sip on this one. Wow, really set me back as soon as it hit the mouth. Super fresh cut hops. I mean thick, and gooey with resin. Will go with the feel first. Crisp, clean, and sticky. This was silky smooth going down, and had a very finish quality to the feel. Light not too thick, but it made you lips stick to your teeth from the resin that was inside. Great carbonation really helped the flavors come through. Not too oily or watered down either, very nice. The flavors were just fantastic. Big bouguet of hoppy goodness would be the best way to decribe it. Lots of citrus, orange peel, grapefruit, a touch of lemon, some tangerine maybe as well. Very fresh, you could really taste the freshness and I think I took that away from it most of all. There was a noticeable amount of sugar mixed in to try and balance out some of the bitterness, and it worked to an extant, however this still retained alot of the hop bomb charecteristics to it. Really just a great, full, west coast IPA type taste. Just what I would have expected from a bottle featuring a man covered in hops!

Overall what can I say, this was really very nice. Did it live up to my expectations, absolutly. I had wanted this to be a rich, complex, hoppy dream, and that it was. My only critique would be where are all those complex malts that were advertised? I didn't really see this as balanced as it could have been, but I am not complaining at all. I really did like this, unfortunatly at $20+ a bottle, I would not be able to get another, even if I could find one, they are long gone from everywhere around here. But if you have the cash I would definatly recommend seeking this one out if you can. This is a very nice brew indeed. On a side note, the bottle is worth a few dollars easily and that should factor in. This is a collector bottle if I have ever seen one. Very well done, and heavy as hell. Would love to see some more limited releases, like the JLS's put out in bottles for a short time, would make for some intresting times. (4,598 characters)

Pours a georgous sunset color with a nice thick sticky off-white head that sports a slight golden glow. Given the head the lacing is kind of light.
Juicyfruit gum, caramel, and piney hops in the nose. Nice combanation that works well together.
Wow! this is a bigger beer than I was expecting. Piney hops are over the top in the best of ways. Lasting bitterness through out the tasting. Alcohol adds some umph to the hoppy bitterness. This may be a bit green, but it's still delicious.
Mouthfeel is oily, sticky, full and bone dry.
The youth of this beer hampers it's drinkability some. I think some age could take this beer to the exceptional catagory. (656 characters)

Pours out of the growler into a Piraat snifter with a plop-plop-plop. Cotton Candy sweetness and some piney bite in the nose. Hazy amber/orange with an offwhite head that doesn't build to much and barely manages to cover the surface of the beer once settled.

Wowoweewa! This has some bite! Definitely should have waited for a friend on this one. First few sips are overwhelming but the sweetness lets itself be known after a little while. Mandarin oranges, tea and bitter mints. Weird but refreshing. Finish is a little off at times and too bitter if you don't keep sipping, but I guess that's the point.

This is a refreshing double IPA that probably treads the line of bitterness and sweetness better than most of my favorites. It doesn't warrant the price tag, though. Congrats to Rogue on a fine brew and a beautiful bottle. (833 characters)